Wire belts are commonly used for conveying articles during cooling, drying, coating, cooking, and many other applications. In one particular application, wire belts are used to convey food articles during the cooking or the processing of food. Wire belts are particularly advantageous for food processing because they can provide an open flow through mesh, a high degree of flexibility, a sanitary construction, simple installation and maintenance, and the ability to be positively driven. A wire belt typically includes a plurality of wire links interlocked or joined together to form an endless conveyor belt. Wire belts typically require a splice connection between the wire links of opposite ends of a wire belt to join the opposed ends together and form an endless conveyor belt.
The known close mesh or weave style belts include a plurality of individual wires which are woven around each other or a cross rod to form a generally flat surface. While these close mesh or weave style belts are capable of very small mesh sizes and have a relatively high strength, they have a very low percent open area making them undesirable for a number of applications, e.g., applications requiring heating, cooling, airflow, and draining. Moreover, these known belts utilize a considerable amount of wire per length of wire belt. This is undesirable in heating and cooling applications because a substantial amount of energy will be wasted in heating and/or cooling the belt itself rather than heating and/or cooling the objects being transported. Because of the complex weaving and the amount of material used, the known close weave or mesh belts are also expensive and time consuming to manufacture.
Another problem with the known close mesh or weave style belts is the difficulty in cleaning the belts. In the Food Processing Industry, it is critical to properly clean and sanitize the belt in order to produce wholesome food products free from physical and/or bacterial contamination that comply with USDA & FDA regulations. Because of the small percent open area and the numerous bends and overlaps formed by the wires, food and contaminants are often difficult to remove making cleaning and sterilizing extremely difficult. As a result, belts of this design are often not suited for many food applications.
Typical flighted conveyor belts are made of plastic and thus present additional problems. One problem with plastic belts is that while they are generally flexible and lightweight, they are difficult to clean. Another problem with plastic conveyor belts is that they can break down over time. One source of “extraneous material” found in food products is plastic.
The fasteners and flights of the present disclosure work with metal compact-grid conveyor belts which feature a plurality of interconnected links that form a wire belt having a small mesh size, large percent open-area, and high strength, without the use of transverse rods or complex weaving patterns. The compact-grid wire belt includes a hinge portion sized and shaped to rotatably interconnect with a region of a hanger portion such that a first link will rotate or bend relative to an adjacent link. A hanger portion preferably includes a substantially horizontal section and may form a “W” shape, or other shape to help orient and stabilize the hinge portion.